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THE MAYOR'S VETO MESSAGE 



The Reply of the 

Board of Public Instruction. 



Albany, N.-.Y., November, 1886 



JAN 19 188/ 




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THE MAYOR'S VETO MESSAGE 

AND 

The Reply of the 

Board of Public Instruction. 

Albany, N. Y., November, 1886. 



Albany, N. Y., November 15, 1886. 
Mayor's Office. 
To the Secretary of the Board of Public Instruction : 

Dear Sir — In accordance with the provision of the city char- 
ter, I return to you the annual school budget which the Board of 
Public Instruction has prepared, and which has been sent me by 
the^ Honorable the Common Council. I have examined the several 
items of the said budget, and, as permitted by the charter, I here- 
by notify you that I object to certain appropriations therein, and 
deem it my duty to reduce the amount of certain other items. 

The tax rate in the city of Albany is very high. W we con- 
duct our city government economically, we can reduce this rate. 
I am satisfied the people desire this, and will watch with eager- 
ness your efforts and my efforts to that end. No proper interest 
need suffer because of this economy. Where we have been 
indulging in extravagant and unnecessary expenditures, we may 
well retrench. The free school system, within its legitimate lim- 
itations, is one of the glories of our country, but we are not called 
upon, nor have we a right, even for this good purpose, to expend 



the money of the people carelessly and lavishly. Albany has 
been extremely liberal in appropriations for its free schools, and 
is entitled to exercise economy for a year or two without failing 
in its obligations to public educational interests. 

I assume that each individual member of the Board will assist 
me in reducing public expenditures this year. With the handing 
in of my memorandum respecting the items of the budget, my 
responsibility ceases and yours begins. I may say that this spirit 
of retrenchment is expected of every department of the city 
government. 

T _ r „„ Amounts asked in Amount allowed 

HJiMS. School Budget. by Mayor. 

Teachers' salary $115,500 00 $105,000 00 

New School No. 7, under provision 

of chapter 48, Laws 1886 17,66143 17,66143 

Repairs and heaters.. 14,500 00 8,000 00 

Fuel - 8,500 00 3,000 00 

Janitors' salaries 9,000 00 8,500 00 

Supplies . 2,000 00 2,000 00 

Superintendent of Schools 1,200 00 1,200 00 

Superintendent of Buildings 1,500 00 Nothing. 

Clerk hire 720 00 Nothing. 

Text-books and stationary 1,700 00 1,700 00 

Gas 600 00 600 00 

Insurance 800 00 Nothing. 

Water rates 400 00 Nothing. 

Printing and adve.tising.. 2,000 00 1,500 00 

School furniture. _ 1,400 00 Nothing. 

Miscellaneous expenses. 700 00 Nothing 

School apparatus 150 00 Nothing. 

Rent of School No. 3 400 00 400 00 

Settlement suit, Blake v. City 681 47 681 47 

To purchase lot and erect a new 

building for School No. 3, three 

rooms thereof at least to be fin- 
ished and furnished from this 

amount, the remaining rooms to 

be finished from moneys to be 

provided hereafter when needed, 24,000 00 Nothing. 

Total $203,412 90 $150,242 90 



Teachers' Salaries. 
Amount asked, $115,500 ; amount allowed, $105,000. 

I have reduced this item to $105,000. The appropriation for 
the salaries of teachers, and the registered number of scholars, 
have been as follows for the last four years : 

yp AR Teachers' Salaries Registered 

Appropriated. Scholars. 

1882 $94,000 00 13,984 

1883. 95,000 00 13,914 

1884 98,000 00 13,708 

1885 98,000 00 13,720 

1886 107,000 00 13,410 

The average attendance in 1885 was 9,740. 
The average attendance in 188(5 was 9,660. 
Here is a falling off of 80 scholars. The average number of 
attendance compared to the number of teachers, in 1885, was 40 
to one. The average last year, 1886, was 38 to one. Two hun- 
dred and fifty teachers were employed in 1885. This year there 
were 253, an increase of three, notwithstanding that there has been 
a falling off of 310 scholars in the registered number, and in the 
attendance a decrease of 80. A less number of scholars would 
suggest a less number of teachers. The total salary list has gone 
steadily up, while the registered number of scholars has gone 
steadily down. This looks like an inverse ratio which the people 
will not commend. 

For Repairs and Heaters. 
Amount asked, $14,500 ; amount allowed, $8,000. 

I believe this item should be reduced. Through the courtesy 
of the Secretary I have obtained a detailed statement of the 
amounts needed for each school. I have not had time to go per- 
sonally to each school, nor indeed to examine its requirements in 
the way of repairs, and while I believe, from what I hear, that 
many of the amounts are unnecessarily large, I hesitate to act on 
the in ufficient information I possess. However, I am quite clear 
as to one item, which calls for an appropriation of $6,500 for 
altering the school in Trinity Place, known as No. 14. This is 
not properly a " repairs." It is rebuilding, and should have 
appeared as such in the budget. I had the Street Commissioner, 
a very competent and careful official, examine this school, and he 
reports it in a perfectly good condition, in his opinion needing no 



repairs. It may he that the arrangement ot the rooms is not just 
satisfactory to some teachers, but it seems to me that any re 
arrangement can wait on the city's ability to pay for it. 

Fuel. 

Amount asked, $8,500 ; amount allowed, $3,000. 

I cannot approve of appropriating this large sum for coal at 
this time. Your coal is stored and paid for at this moment up to 
November, 1887. If you do not buy another pound or spend 
another penny for fuel, you will have all you require uatil that 
date. The $3,000 allowed will purchase enough to supply you 
through the remaining two months until the last day of Decem- 
ber, 1887. On the next day, the first day of January, 1888, the 
budget following will be available. I would not undertake to 
cut down this item if I did not feel sure of my position on the 
matter. Your appropriation for coal last year was only $8,000, 
and yet you expended $14,933.94. This, as you explain, was to 
pay for two years' supply, for 1885-6 and for 1886-7. I do not 
mention this to criticize your management, but to have our citi- 
zens draw the very natural inference that if you should happen 
to run short of a coal supply for a few da} 7 s a year from next fall, 
you evidently have some source from which you could draw the 
money necessary to keep your heaters running. I understand, of 
course, that it is sometimes wise to buy large quantities of an 
article when it can be procured at a low price, but the theory of 
our city government is to let each year take care of itself. 

Jamtoes' Salaries. 
Amount asked, $9,000 ; amount allowed, $8,500. 

Last year was expended for Janitors' salaries $8,419.16. There 
is no need of spending more this year. If an increase for School No. 
7 is necessary, it can be saved from the unfairly high salaries paid 
some of the other janitors. Y r ou can easily save six hundred dol- 
lars per year for this item in the High School expenses. This 
will leave $720, and spacious house accommodations for the 
janitor's salary. I will undertake to find a man who will run the 
boilers and perform all the duties of janitor for his house rent and 
$720 a year, and who will at the same time shovel and save the 
coal. 

I think the system of employing janitors is wrong. There 
should be found in each of the schools, some strong, lusty lad, who 



would perform this work for a moderate stipend, enough to clothe 
him at least. The teaching now is all in the direction of charity 
and educational alms. The boys should be taught independence 
and manliness, and the reliance which conies from self support. 
The boy who has courage and mettle enough to do this work will 
make the kind of a man to succeed in life. There is nothing de- 
grading in this labor. It will gladden the heart and win the 
friendship of every thoughtful and honest witness of his pluck 
and spirit. 

Superintendent of Buildings. 
Amount asked, $1,500 ; amount allowed, Nothing. 

I cannot approve of this item for two reasons : First, it is not 
authorized by law, and in my opinion the employment of this 
officer since 1872 has not been strictly within your powers ; 
I have the written opinion of the corporation counsel to this effect ; 
second, it is not necessary to have such an officer. When the 
school board consisted of four members — I think that was the 
number constituting the Board before the Law of 18b'6 — they 
charged themselves with the duty of looking after the repairs to 
the school buildings, and employed no Superintendent. Now, 
that there are twelve capable commissioners, the duty of keeping 
an eye over the several buildings is intrusted to a salaried officer. 
The commissioners in the other departments charge themselves 
with this duty. 

Clerk Hire. 

Amount asked, $720 ; amount allowed, Nothing. 

The objections to the preceding item govern me in disapprov- 
ing of this. The law makes the Superintendent of Schools the 
Secretary of the Board, and contemplates that he will perform 
the clerical duties of that position. No provision has been made 
by law for a clerk, and it is a dangerous practice for commissions 
to create new offices. If there is, as I should judge there well 
might be, too much clerical work for even the very efficient 
Secretary of your Board, then why not impress into your service 
some of the young men and women who are in the High School. 
Surely the city is entitled to their services, and I have no doubt 
their assistance will be cheerfully given. 



" 



6 

Insurance. 

Amount asked, $800 ; amount allowed, Nothing. 

I object to this item. The title and ownership of the school 
buildings rest in the city of Albany. It is the policy of the 
municipality to insure its own property. 

Water Eates. 

Amount asked, $400 ; amount allowed, Nothing. 

My objection to this item is, that it is not necessary for the 
city to re-imburse itself for water expenses in this way. The city 
owns the water-works and should not exact payment for the use 
of water from any of its departments. 

Printing and Advertising. 
Amount asked, $2,000; amount allowed, $1,500. 

I have cut this down to $1,500. Last year when the schools 
were interested in our city anniversary, there was an extra draft 
on this fund, yet even then you only expended $1,625. Economy 
for the coming year will make $1,500 an ample appropriation for 
printing and advertising. Expenses which are not absolutely 
necessary we should avoid. 

School Furniture. 
Amount asked, $1,400 ; amount allowed, Nothing. 

I object to this appropriation. This item is not intended to 
purchase furniture now necessary, but to gradually replace the old 
kind of seats and desks with new and improved styles. Let this 
go, pray, for one year. If a desk or a seat breaks clown, repair 
it. I look forward to the day when we can afford to improve 
both our school-houses and their furniture. 

Miscellaneous Expenses. 

Amount asked, $700 ; amount allowed, Nothing. 

Chapter 444 of the Laws of 1866 — the act creating your 
Board — distinctly declares it to be your duty in certifying to the 
Common Council the amount of money which will be required 
for school purposes, to specify ''the several purposes for which 
the same will be required." An indefinite appropriation should 
not be granted. All ordinary expenditures should come within 



one or the other of the twenty distinct items of the budget, and 
which are definite in purposes. 

School Apparatus. 
Amount asked, $150 ; amount allowed, Nothing. 

This is not a very large appropriation, but it seems to me that 
with the annual appropriations you have had in other years for 
this purpose, you can do very well without new or different appa- 
ratus for one year. Or you can take the amount out of the 
literature fund given by the State and which last year amounted 
to over $1,800. 

New School for No. 3 
Amount asked, $24,000 ; amount allowed, Nothing. 

I object to the item of $24,000 for a new school in the place of 
No. 3.* The present school-house known as No. 3. situated at No. 
6 Watervliet avenue, is not adequate to the demand upon it. 
There are two rooms measuring 14| feet by 38 feet and nine feet 
in height. There are 35 scholars in each room, and these meas- 
urements allow less than 16 square feet of floor room for each 
child. This is an amount too small in a room with a low ceiling 
and heated with stoves. The school has two daily sessions, one 
set of scholars attending in the morning, and another set in the 
afternoon. In the western end of the city it is said, and I think 
truly, that five hundred children would avail themselves of school 
privileges, if convenient accommodations were afforded. By con- 
venient I particularly mean proximate schools. There was a time 
when a walk of a mile or two miles was no obstacle in obtaining 
school privileges. To-day the school-house must stand just around 
the corner. This year, as I have already pointed out, it is neces- 
sary for us to economize. At the first opportunity a new school 
must be erected in the west end. I believe that the pressing de- 
mand for room may be met by a re-arrangement of the scholars 
in the several schools in the western part of the city, letting the 
larger ones attend the schools at the greatest distance, and in the 
event of this net proving satisfactory, more room may be had by 
building an addition to No. 12, at an expense not exceeding $5,000. 
It is urged that we should erect costly and large schools, that we 
should " build for the future." It is well to remember now and 
then that the tax-payers have to pay for the present, and, alas, 
for the past. I would not say all this if I were not impressed 
with its importance. The moral effect of a marked exercise of 



economy by your department handling, as it does more money 
than any other branch of our government, will be very great. I 
think for the present we can find accommodations for all the 
school children who have applied, without building a new school. 
The city Engineer and Surveyor, at my request, has examined 
all the western portion of the city, and upon his report I base my 
suggestions. There are vacant seats in these schools as follows : 

School No. 21 60 seats. 

School No. 18 80 seats. 

School No. 22. _ 60 seats. 

School No. 7 8Q seats. 

School No. 24 100 seats. 

School No. 11 68 seats. 

School No. 6 _ — 76 seats. 

School No. 10 36 seats. 

Total vacant seats — 566. 
These schools are none of them too far for the attendance of 
children over 12 years of age. 

Here are accommodations for ten per cent more than the esti- 
mated applications. An addition might be made to either School 
No. 21 or No. 12. There is ample room to build an addition to 
the latter. If the enlargement referred to was made, and School 
No. 22 were filled with the scholars now attending No. 12, who 
properly belong to No. 22, School No. 21 could temporarily be 
devoted to primary scholars exclusively, and abundance of room 
obtained for the surplus scholars from No. 3. The expense of 
this addition should easily come within $5,000. Let me say here 
that when a committee of prominent citizens from the west end 
called upon me in reference to the proposed new school, one of 
them, fully alive to the financial condition of our city, remarked 
that in the event of my approving of the item, $10,000 would be 
sufficient. Yours, 

JOHN BOYD THACHEE, 

Mayor. 



Reply to the Veto Message of the Mayor. 

To the Citizens of Albany : 

The publicity given by the Mayor to his objections to several 
items of the school budget, and the strictures made upon the 
course of the Board of Public Instruction in its management of 
the schools, demand as public a reply to those objections, as well 
as a vindication of that course. 

The Mayor glories in the free school system of this country ; 
we assure him that he may especially glory in the public schools 
of this city. They are a credit to the city, and a source of well 
founded pride to its citizens. 

No municipal department comes so close to the people as the 
department of education. The people are jealous of their schools 
and they insist, as is their right, that their schools shall be wisely, 
skilfully and efficiently managed. A proper respect for this just 
demand compels this reply to the message of the Mayor. 

Let us take up and consider the items objected to by the Mayor 
in the order in which they appear in the message. 

The first is the estimate for the teacher's salaries. For the year 
1886, the amount raised was $107,000 ; for 1887, the estimate is 
$115,500. The increase of $8,500 is accounted for as follows : 
A deficiency in the amount received from the State, 

which could not be foreseen and which hasembarassed 

every city in the State in like manner $3, 500 

Additional teachers in new School No. 7 and in Nos. 20, 

22, 10 and 2 3,500 

Add for contingencies, in order that there may be no 

deficiency . 1, 500 



Total increase $8,500 



The Mayor objects to any increase on the ground that there 
has been a falling off in the number of registered pupils since 
1882. The Mayor was naturally led to this conclusion by the 
reported figures. Had he read the contexts of the reports he 
would have learned that the registered number is not the proper 



10 

standard of comparison, because that number was much too large 
prior to 1883, owing to duplicated enrollments caused by trans- 
fers from school to school during the year, which swelled the total 
improperly. This has been guarded against since ; hence came 
the diminished total. 

The more reliable index is the average attendance. This item 
for the years cited by the Mayor has been as follows : 

1882 9,350 

1883 9,059 

1884 9,452 

1885 9,740 

1886 9,660 

These figures show a net increase of 310. 

That the decrease of eighty in 1886 was owing to temporary 
causes is made evident by the fact that the attendance of last 
month exceeded that of the same month in 1885 by 109. 

Allowing forty scholars to a teacher, a liberal figure on average 
attendance, the increase of 310 calls for not less than eight (8) 
more teachers. 

In 1882 the total number of teachers was 233, in 1886 this 
number was 253, an increase of twenty. We have already shown 
that eight more were required by the increased average attendance. 

The additional twelve were required for these very urgent 
reasons 

First — A proper regard for the health of the primary scholars. 

Second — An equally proper regard for their progress in school 
work. 

Third — The increased attendance in higher grades. 

That the classes in many primary rooms were too large, has 
been admitted and deplored for years. The crowded condition 
of these school rooms has been a constant threat to health. Often 
eighty children were crowded into one unventilated, badly-lighted 
and over-heated room, creating a foul atmosphere wholly unfit for 
young beings to breathe. There were but two remedies for this ; 
to turn some of the children into the street, or to provide more 
class room and more teachers. The board chose the latter 
alternative. 

That no teacher can properly progress such large classes even 
in primary grades no one will deny. 

Again, our citizens are showing their approval of the work of 
our schools by keeping their children in school much longer than 



11 

formerly. This has increased the numbers in the higher grades, 
and as advanced classes are necessarily smaller than those of lower 
grades, has also called for more teachers. 

The Board has, therefore, in order to meet these needs, slightly 
increased the number of teachers, though not to the extent it 
would have been justified in doing. 

To show the watchfulness of the Board over expenditure for 
salaries, it is only necessary to say that it has adopted the practice 
of transferring teachers to fill vacancies, instead of making new 
appointments, whenever it is shown that the attendance of a 
school has diminished so as to justify such transfer. 

Finally, the Board has engaged all the teachers until Septem- 
ber, 1887. A reduction of $10,000 in the estimate would create 
a deficiency, unless a great reduction in rate of pay of the whole 
number of teachers be made for the four months succeeding that 
date. 

Repairs and Heaters. 

In 1886, this item was $14,000. In 1887, it is $14,500. Of 
this amount $6,500 is intended for the alteration of School No. 
14. This is the part objected to by the Mayor. The Committee 
on Hygiene says in its last report of School No. 14 : 

" School No. 14, with a seating capacity of 984, one of our 
largest schools, has substantial walls, and is a good school build- 
ing ; but the arrangement of rooms is so faulty as to necessitate 
remodeling the entire interior. Twelve rooms are imperfectly 
lighted, the halls.are small, and the heating and ventilation very 
poor. A central hall running through each floor would give 
rooms of good size on either side, furnished with equal and suffi- 
cient light. Your committee urge very strongly upon the Board 
the necessity of this remodeling, as, at a comparatively small out- 
lay, one of the school buildings most open to criticism could be 
made one of the most serviceable." 

An inspection of this building will convince any one that its 
narrow halls and stairways, and the fact that one-fourth of the 
over 900 pupils must pass through two rooms to reach the stair- 
ways, are a standing menace to life and limb, and in case of a 
panic, this faulty arrangement would open the way to a terrible 
disaster. The improvement suggested is not " to please some 
teachers," but is necessary to the safety and health of the children. 



12 



Coal. 

Amount raised in 1886 _ $8 000 

Amount now asked _ . g 500 

The increase of $500 is to provide for a probable advance in 
prices. The Mayor proposes that a very large proportion of the 
coal be bought in midwinter. Such a course, this year, would 
have increased the cost of the supply not less than'$l,000. 

Every prudent person fills his coal bins in the summer time, 
when the price is lowest. The Board has always done this, and is 
sure that its plan is the only proper one. It is fortified in this 
opinion by the practice of every State and city department. 

The Mayor's misunderstanding of the amount paid for coal last 
year arose from not distinguishing between the school year estab- 
lished by State law, and extending from September to September, 
and the city's financial year, extending from January to January. 
The supply for 1885-86 was paid for in September, 1885, and 
supply for 1886-87 was paid for in August, 1886, both payments 
being made within the same school year, but in different financial 
years. ■ 

The supply of each season was paid for out of its own appro- 
priation. 

Janitors' salaries in 1886 $8 800 

" in 1887 """""J" 9,'000 

Increase due to new No. 7... __ 200 

The Mayor proposes to cut down the cost of the High School 
by ,$600. We now pay $600, with apartments .rent free, to the 
janitor. This covers all expenses of cleaning and caring for, not 
only the very large building used daily by over 700 people, but 
also the extensive sidewalks and streets. We pay also an engineer 
$720 a year to attend the steam heating apparatus. This man is 
a skillful mechanic, and keeps the entire apparatus in repair, and 
not only this, but he also does all the slight repairs in carpentry 
throughout the building. In these ways hundreds of dollars have 
been saved. The total cost of the care of this large buildino- is 
$1,320. 

Now comparisons are proverbially odious. But it is only fair 
to the Board to show that the comparative cost of the care of the 
High School is low. 

The city building costs for the same items, as is shown in the 
city budget of 1886 : 



13 

For janitor's salary (apartments rent free) 

For assistant janitor's salary 300 

For cleaning 800 



Total $2,000 



Every citizen knows that the city building is no larger than the 
High School, and is used by far fewer persons. It would appear 
from this comparison that the latter is cared for at a moderate 
cost. 

Again, the city hall is a somewhat larger building and, we ad- 
mit, should cost more for its care ; but the total cost is so much 
greater as to be convincing proof of the moderation of the school 
authorities. The items for the care of city hall, found in the last 
city budget, are : 

Salaries $3,000 

Cleaning 1,000 



$4,000 



This is paid by the city ; we are informed that the county pays 
a like amount for the same purposes, making a total cost of 
$8,000. And laborers clean off the snow at so much per day ! 

Should the city hall cost six times as much as the High School 
for care and cleaning ? 

It cannot be that the Mayor is serious in his proposition to dis- 
miss all janitors and call upon the children to do their work. 

Such a plan is wholly impracticable. Large furnaces, steam 
boilers and other valuable appliances can be intrusted with safety 
to adults only. But even if such a plan were practicable, it would 
not be a proper one. The public schools were established, and 
are supported, by the people of the State. Attendance on them 
is a right and not a privilege. The public schools are common 
in the sense that they are open and free to all. Every rent-payer 
contributes to the support of the schools as well as every tax-payer; 
and, therefore, every citizen is entitled to the tuition of his chil- 
dren, not as an alms or a charity, but as a right. Whose children 
then shall be called upon to sweep and dust and make fires ? Can 



14 

such distinctions be made without creating the classes to prevent 
whose creation is one of the chief ends of our institutions ? It 
would surely be very unwise to attempt the plan suggested- 

Superintendent of Buildings . , $1, 500 

The Mayor proposes to strike out this item, and to abolish all 
special superintendence of the twenty-four buildings under the 
care of this Board. 

Prior to 1866, this work was performed by the Secretary, who 
was not employed at all in supervising school work proper. This 
practice was continued until 1869, when, owing to the death of 
Superintendent Haswell, a special Supervisor of Repairs was first 
employed. In 1872, when the number of buildings had increased 
from fifteen to twenty-four, and the attendance from 4,000 to 
7,000, and when new buildings were in course of erection, and 
the Secretary's work had increased so as to confine him to office 
work, a Superintendent of Buildings was first appointed to serve 
continuously. At first his salary was paid from the repair fund, 
to which it was properly chargeable. But the Board was reluc- 
tant to appear to be hiding an expenditure, and subsequently the 
amount was placed in the annual budget as a separate item. 

This practice has been followed year after year, and the item 
has been approved by every Mayor until this year.' This Board 
can see no good reason for abandoning a prudent and an economi- 
cal policy which has saved the city many thousands of dollars 
during the past fourteen years. The suggestion that the members 
of the Board should personally supervise the constantly arising 
repairs of twenty-four buildings subjected to the wear and tear of 
a daily attendance of 10,000 children is wholly impracticable. 
The members of the Board receive no salaries, and now devote a 
large share of their time to legislative and administrative duties. 
They cannot be expected to neglect their private affairs and stand 
over masons, carpenters and plumbers. And if they did so, the 
purpose would not be effected. Special training and experience 
are essential to effective supervision. Dolhe members of the Fire 
Board personally supervise repairs ? Their efficient Chief Engineer 
gives a good share of his time to these matters. Do the Park 
Commissioners or the Watei Board look after such work in per- 
son ? Thej' cannot be reasonably asked to do so. This Board 
might return to the original practice of paying for supervision 
from the repair fund, and thus avoid any legal technicalities ; but 
such a course does not seem straightforward. 



15 

The Board is, therefore, ready, if it is deemed necessary, to 
apply for remedial legislation, both in respect to this position and 
that of the clerk in the office of the Secretary. It is thought that 
with the assistance of the Mayor and the Common Council, such 
legislation can readily be obtained. 

Clerk-hire ... $720 

The origin of this item is similar to that of the preceding one. 
In 1878, on the occurrence of a vacancy in the office of Superin- 
tendent of Schools, the Board, satisfied that supervision of educa- 
tional work by committees of laymen was ineffective in so large 
a system, determined to select a professional educator to take 
charge of the schools, and appointed the present incumbent, Mr. 
Charles W. Cole, who had been for ten years a teacher and had 
made a special study of public school management. Mr. Cole 
entered upon his complex and varied duties with vigor and 
enthusiasm ; but soon found himself crippled in his efforts by the 
confining work at the Secretary's desk. The Board, believing 
that the time of a supervising officer was thrown away in keeping 
accounts, handing out chalk, brooms and pails, and similar minis- 
terial labor, provided a clerk at a very moderate salary to perform 
these offices. The effect of this action was immediate. The 
Superintendent, no longer burdened with these details, was enabled 
to devote a large share of his time to the higher functions of his 
office, and to develop and apply a system of superintendence that 
rapidly made itself felt throughout the schools. The course of 
study was revised so as to accord with the most approved plans 
in vogue. S} 7 stematic and regular examinations superseded the 
ii regular and intermittent tests of committees; the best methods 
of teaching were presented at teachers' meetings in so practical a 
way as to insure their adoption in the schools ; the standard of 
scholarship was raised ; the work of the scholars was unified, and 
a spirit of enthusiasm and emulation was infused among teachers 
and taught. 

In the department of primary teaching alone the efforts of Mr. 
Cole were crowned with such remarkable success that, had he ac- 
complished nothing else, the Board feels that the city has been 
repaid ten times ten fold the expense of relieving him somewhat 
from clerical labor. This is not all. Mr. Cole has made himself 
felt for good in every department from the lowest primary to the 
High School, and the Board, feeling just pride in the high repu- 
tation our public schools enjoy in the State and nation, is glad to 



16 

place itself on record as ascribing a good share of that high repu- 
tation to the earnest, intelligent and judicious efforts of the super- 
intendent of schools. 

The proposition of the Mayor to use High School pupils as 
clerks cannot be considered for a moment. Were it proper from 
any point of view to call on High School pupils to perforin the 
duties of a clerk, their lack of experience would confine the super- 
intendent to his office in order to direct the work of constantly 
changing assistants to such an extent, that he would be better off 
without any help. 

Insurance $800 

If it is to be the policy of the city to insure all its own build- 
ings, this Board does not desire to be singular ; although it has 
thought a moderate amount of insurance sufficient to meet the 
probable amount of loss on buildings so well watched as the 
schools, a wise investment. 



Water rates 

The Board heartily accords with the sentiments of the Mayor in 
respect to this item. It was inserted because the water board 
insisted that we must pay these rates, or go without water. 

Printing and advertising $2 , 000 

The amount allowed by the Mayor, $1,500, can, of course, be 
made to suffice by going without some important appliances for 
school work ; but it was considered unsafe to make so close a 
limit. We expended $1,625 in the last school year, all of which 
was for school purposes proper. The Mayor is misinformed con- 
cerning the bi-centennial printing. The citizens' committee paid 
all the printing bills except one of twenty dollars, which this 
Board assumed because the printed matter was used in the schools 
for regular exercises, as well as for the celebration. Next year 
some changes in the course of study and the regulations may call 
for additional printing. It was thought wise, therefor, to insert 
the amount above stated — $2,000. 

School furniture $1,400 

The Mayor allows nothing for this purpose. In support of 
this item, the following passage from the last report of the Com- 
mittee on Hygiene is quoted : 

" The condition of the desks and the seats in many of the 
schools demand early attention. Incalculable injury may be 



17 

done to young and growing bodies by forcing them into un- 
natural positions. In Schools Nos. 6, 14, 23 and 2i, the desks 
are worn out in many of the rooms, and should be replaced 
with the modern single desks. 

" In fact, an investigation shows fifty-five school rooms in all 
needing such improvement. In the primary and grammar school 
building's only thirty rooms have the single desks. In school 
No. 13, scholars of the ninth grade are cramped into seats de- 
signed for the seventh grade. The desks and seats in several of these 
schools. No. 1 1 especially, need repairing. The outlay in the latter 
case will be slight and the comfort of the pupils largely increased." 

From the same report it appears that nearly 2,000 new desks 
are really needed. The amount asked for will purchase about 
350. This is certainly deliberate and conservative action. 

Miscellaneous expenses $700 

To this account are charged such items as postage, expressage, 
freight, cartage, telephone rent, messenger service, drawing exhibi- 
tion and rent of public halls, and all other items whose exact amount 
in detail cannot be foreseen. The amount needed is determined by 
the experience of past years. The Mayor objects to the item as 
not definite. It is surely as definite as " street contingents " in the 
city budget, or as "incidental expenses" in the estimate of the 
corporation counsel. 

The city has a large contingent fund in the excise moneys, to 
which miscellaneous items may be charged. We have no other 
fund from which " miscellaneous expenses " can be paid. In past 
years this item was considered sufficiently definite by Mayors 
reviewing our estimates. 

School apparatus $150 

This is a modest item, which enables the Board to keep the 
valuable apparatus used in the schools in good repair, and to add 
a little year by year. Every year or two the Regents of the 
University give us a like sum for these purposes provided we 
raise as much as they give. The other moneys received from the 
Regents are devoted to the payment of teacher's salaries. 

School No. 3 $24,000 

The crying need of a new building at the West End has been 
set forth by the Board for several years. This year it is the 
opinion of the Board that action can no longer with justice be 



18 

delayed. The Board has entirely trustworthy information that 
over five hundred fifty children of school age in that district, are 
deprived of school privileges by the want of accommodation, and 
that this condition cannot be relieved by any makeshift policy, but 
only by the erection of a new building. 

The Mayor admits that there are five hundred children without 
school accommodation ; but he proposes to postpone the erection of 
a building and to place these children, or what is the same thing, 
other children now in school, in certain seats in other buildings; 
or to build an addition to School No. 12, or School No. 21. 

The Mayor obtained his information as to vacant seats by 
deputing two gentlemen to visit the schools and count the empty 
seats. More exact information could have been obtained with far 
less trouble by sending to the office of the Board for the official 
figures, as will be seen from the following table, by which it 
appears that although the Mayor's total is only forty-three (43) 
too large, there are many wide discrepancies which affect the 
problem : 

Vacant Seats Vacant Seats 

SCHOOL. reported to reported by 

Mayor. Principals. 

No. 21... 60 32 

No. 18 80 38 

No. 22 60 90 

No. 7 86 71 

No. 24 100 67 

No. 11.. 68 68 

No. 6__ 76 49 

No. 10 36 108 



566 523 



The Mayor's proposition is to remove enough of the larger 
pupils from No. 21, and No. 12, to other schools to afford room 
for the expectant five hundred fifty. This is a more complicated 
scheme than it appears at first glance. All will admit that these 
larger pupils must be sent to schools where they can enter 
proper grades. Schools Nos. 10, 18 and 24 are primaries, having 
few scholars above ten years of age, and no classes above the 
fifth year. They have no empty class-rooms ; but have vacant 
seats scattered throughout the buildings. These schools cannot 



19 

receive any of the larger pupils. Their vacant seats (213 in num- 
ber) must, therefore, be deducted from the total, leaving 310. 

All who know the exact location of No. 6, on Second street 
below Lark, and No. 7, on Clinton avenue opposite Swan street, 
or No. 11 on Madison avenue near Lark street, will see that pupils 
of Nos. 12 and 21 cannot be reasonably asked to walk such great 
distances from their homes. The conditions are far different in 
the city from the rural districts where, although in good weather 
pupils mayfwalk a mile or more to school, they have horses and 
wagons at their command on stormy days or in severe weather. 
City school buildings must of necessity be located so as to accom- 
modate the largest possible number ; they must follow the trend 
of population. The " school-house just around the corner" is the 
necessary outcome of concentration of population, as are many 
other appliances of modern civilization. 

The vacant seats of Nos. 6, 7 and 11 are of no practical use in 
the problem we are considering. They also must be deducted from 
the total, which leaves 122 empty seats in Nos. 21 and 22, scat- 
tered through ten or twelve rooms of varying grades in which 
these children to be transferred may or may not fit. And suppos- 
ing they did fit in, there would still remain over four hundred 
children unprovided for. 

An addition to No. 12 would be a good thing; but the 
Principal of that school assures us that if he had four more school- 
rooms, they would be instantly filled from his immediate neigh- 
borhood. How would that help the children living near West 
Albany ? 

The Principal of No. 21 has a list of 105 children living 
east of Ontario street, awaiting seats. Clearly such an addition to 
No. 21 as could be built for $5,000, the amount suggested by 
the Mayor, would give no room for the 200 little ones living from 
a half to three-quarters of a mile farther west. 

hi fact, there is but one solution to the problem : a new build- 
ing. If this cannot be built this year, these children must wait 
until the city can afford the outlay. The Board has given this 
question careful examination ; it is as fully alive as any other body 
of citizens to the propriety of administering all the affairs of the 
city economically ; but it can see no economy in refusing to pro 
vide this large number of children with educational advantages 
to which they are entitled by law, by right, and by the spirit of 
our institutions. The people pay the bills and the people are 
entitled to the benefits. 



20 

We claim that there are no public institutions that contribute 
as much to the prosperity of the community as good public schools. 
They attract people seeking permanent homes. They influence 
favorably the establishment of new branches of industry. Our 
intelligent mechanics and workingmen will not long remain in a 
locality where there are not ample and efficient school facilities. 

It behooves us, therefore, in the direct interests of the city, to 
furnish these facilities, with a wise, prudent and truly economical 
liberality. 

OKEN E. WILSON, 
President of Board of Public Instruction. 

PETER J. FLINN, Chairman. 
CHAS. H. GAUS, 
JAMES M. RUSO, 

Special Committee on the Budget. 

Albany, November 22, 1886. 



21 

Note. — The Mayor's veto was sustained by the Board, November 
22nd, on the following items : 

Repairs and heaters, reduced by $6 , 500 00 

Superintendent of Buildings stricken out on legal 

grounds 1,500 00 

Clerk hire stricken out on legal grounds 720 00 

Water rates stricken out 400 00 

Printing and advertising reduced by 500 00 

$9,620 00 



The veto of the following items was overruled by the Board : 

Teachers' salaries _. _.. $10,000 00 

Fuel 5,500 00 

Janitors' salaries ._ _. 500 00 

Insurance 800 00 

School furniture ... 1,400 00 

Miscellaneous expenses 700 00 

School apparatus 150 00 

New school building 24,000 00 



3 



$43,050 00 



The budget as first made by the Board amounted to, $203 ,412 90 
The budget as finally adopted, amounted to . 193,792 90 



LIBRARY OF CONGRES 



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